From Novel Research to Innovative Medicines: GlaxoSmithKline Launches Discovery Fast Track Competition for Academic Researchers
GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) today announced the launch of Discovery
Fast Track, a competition designed to accelerate the translation of
academic research into novel therapies. Winners of the competition will
partner with investigators on GSK’s Discovery
Partnerships with Academia (DPAc) team with a goal of developing
viable research-stage drug candidates into innovative medicines.
Launched in the U.K. in late 2010, the DPAc program is a new approach to
drug discovery where academic partners become core members of
drug-hunting teams. GSK and the academic partner share the risk and
reward of innovation, where GSK funds activities in the partner
laboratories, as well as provides in-kind resources to progress a
program from an idea to a candidate medicine. DPAc’s reach is global. To
date, GSK has initiated nine collaborations in nine disease areas,
including two in the U.S. and one in Canada.
"DPAc programs are incredibly valuable,” said Roger Cone, professor of
molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt University School of
Medicine and a DPAc participant. “Pharmaceutical companies bring an
industrial approach to drug discovery that can’t be replicated in
academia. Combined with the pharmacological and biological expertise of
academia, it’s a perfect combination of skills and resources."
To avoid initial contract negotiations, which are often perceived as the
biggest bottleneck in the Pharma/academia collaborative process, the
DPAc team conceived the Discovery Fast Track competition as a means to
rapidly identify and screen the most promising hypotheses in academia.
“With the Discovery Fast Track competition, we want to give all academic
researchers who are passionate about translating their science into
therapy, a chance to collaborate and access GSK resources and expertise
to help bring novel and transformative treatments to patients,” said
Pearl Huang, Ph.D., Global Head of DPAc. “We are excited to receive
submissions in all therapeutic areas and look forward to being part of
the researcher’s journey in making a difference.”
The Benefits of Discovery Fast Track
Each winning academic investigator will share a novel drug development
concept – including the therapeutic hypothesis, target, assay protocols
and reagents – and GSK will configure a high-throughput assay to screen
the target against its extensive compound library.
Together, GSK and the investigator will interpret and triage the output
to identify chemical probes that researchers can use to test their
hypotheses in more advanced biological assays. If successful, this could
lead to a DPAc partnership to further assess the drug development
potential.
The application consists of a one-page summary, including the
therapeutic hypothesis, the target information and the biological
screen’s status. In August 2013, an expert panel of judges will select
up to 20 finalists, who will then submit an expanded application
including confidential supporting data and present their proposal to
GSK. Winners will be selected in October 2013.
Further details can be found online at www.openinnovation.gsk.com.
Registration closes on July 19, 2013.
GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s leading research-based
pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the
quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and
live longer. For further information please visit www.gsk.com.
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or
projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are
subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected. Factors that may affect GSK's
operations are described under Item 3.D 'Risk factors' in the company's
Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2012.
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